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supervisor, Chris Trowbridge,
vice president of Administrative and Legal Affairs. “She always asks the question, ‘Are we
doing the best we can for our employees?’ She understands that we serve our students
best when she and her amazing colleagues in Human Resources fully support employee wellness and professional growth. Genuine compassion and thoughtfulness are among her many natural talents.”
So is modesty. Romano attributes her success to working
with incredible colleagues and
a compassionate HR team. “We have such an extraordinary employee population at WilmU,” she says, “and it speaks
volumes about who we are as an institution. They’re so passionate about our students. We all believe in the University’s mission and vision. We all embody those values.”
Romano joined the Wilmington University full-time staff in 2006. She earned
her bachelor’s at WilmU after serving in the Armed Forces for five years, then completed her master’s in Human Resources, also at WilmU. To earn her Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, she penned a dissertation
called The Relationship Between Employees’ Perceptions
of Experienced Fun in the Workplace and the Level of Employee Engagement. She
got the idea after attending a SHRM (The Society for Human Resource Management) meeting that featured a presentation about the value of fun in the workplace led by The Fun
Dept., a group of zany but
savvy folks who leverage fun
to improve the bottom line.
She won its “30 Minutes of
Fun on the Run” contest and brought The Fun Dept. to WilmU. The dissertation, in which she surveyed WilmU employees about their experiences with fun and found a positive correlation between experienced fun, overall well-being and team building, gave birth to a long-standing relationship with The Fun Dept. Its cast of characters has been causing a ruckus at WilmU
since, including at many HR-
sponsored events like Employee Recess and the epic Halloween party. Perhaps more significant, Romano’s doctoral work gave credence to her belief that an enjoyable and respectful work environment is also a productive one.
Romano’s former boss,
Don Hagermann, who in 2015
left WilmU’s HR department
to assume the role of AVP of Administrative and Legal Affairs, has known Romano for 18 years. The two worked together at
St. Francis Hospital. When he came to WilmU in 2005, he was thrilled to work with his old pal again a year later. “She has an incredible work ethic,” he says. “She’s honest to a fault. She’s an amazing person to work with and an amazing person to know.”
Hagermann believes that Romano was as respected in
the military as she is at WilmU. “She loved serving in the Azores (a group of islands in the North Atlantic and an autonomous region of Portugal),” he says. “She treasures that experience as
one of the best assignments she had in the military. So as an HR person, she’s had a well-rounded career in many disciplines and has learned well.”
From the lush islands of
the Azores to the land known
as New Castle, Romano’s rich experiences have contributed
to her uniqueness as a human being and a student of humanity. “We all face challenges in life,” she says. “And we all process them differently. It’s about having conversations that are helpful and empathic, and providing employees with meaningful resources.” WU
—Maria Hess
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